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Omineca Ski Club in Burns Lake ends season

Was a successful year despite some ups and downs, says club VP
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Omineca Ski Club has stopped maintaining trails until the fall. (File photo/Lakes District News)

Now that spring is arriving, the ski season at Omineca Ski Club in Burns Lake has come to a close.

“We are not maintaining trails anymore at this point as dirt, ice, water are showing up regularly. There are no more day fees if brave souls want to still go,” Club vice president Heather Anchikoski told Lakes District News.

According to Anchikoski, the drastic change in weather over the course of the season affected the club’s day-to-day operation.

“I would say that the season was variable as we experienced a cold snap earlier in winter and then a melt mid winter which impacted the trails. Despite this, we did keep a pretty good base that allowed people to continue skiing in February and March. Each season is always so different,” she said.

One thing that was certainly different compared to recent years, was the lessening of COVID-19 restrictions which allowed the club to return to some of its normal programming, though certain events were still effected.

READ MORE: A day of fun at Omineca Ski Club

“We were quite happy that things opened up with COVID-19 restrictions, although it still had an impact on our events. For example, when we held the teck race in late January, we had a bunch of volunteers call in sick due to an outbreak. So it was still affecting us, but we managed with some extra help at the race and kept people safe by checking passports and keeping it as an outdoor event. We were able to hold our first normal event [the loppet race] in March where participants could share an actual meal together after the race. It was nice to get back to something normal,” said Anchikoski.

Next season, the club is looking forward to maintaining or exceeding the 260 existing club members. According to Anchikoski, one area that the club would like to improve for next season is having more rental equipment available.

READ MORE: From Omineca Ski Club to Beijing 2022

“One of our barriers right now is lack of rental equipment (skis and boots). The past two years, we have rented out everything and we really would like to focus on growing our rental cupboard. There are some supply chain issues that have made this difficult, but we are hoping to keep trying to improve our stock so we are share the joy of cross country skiing with even more people. We encourage those who enjoyed the ski season to make the worthy investment of buying their own skis so that new people can then take rentals and try out the next skiing season,” she said

“We are so grateful for our volunteers who keep the club going and especially our groomers who are often out late, for many hours and in cold weather to keep our trails in great shape.”


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Eddie Huband
Multimedia Reporter
eddie.huband@ldnews.net
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